Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Hello all of you! Valentine's Day is over and daylight is lasting beyond our evening meal. We hear from friends who have gone "south for the winter" and regret that most of them are not having the warm weather they expected. Ward and I hope you are all happy, cozy and healthy no matter where you are.

Studio Update:

It is a pleasure to finally be sending our very first blog including one of my new small original watercolors. I've talked about this for a long time and it's time to put up or shut up! This watercolor is called BRUSHING WITH A PINE TREE. (To find this original on ebay, go to the link toward the bottom of this page.)

There have been so many things to decide. What to paint? What medium? How big? How to handle the sale - payments, ordering, etc. The answers to many of these questions have already been outlined on this blog, on our web site, and some in my quirky artist's brain.

What to paint? An image or an impression that I find fascinating and want to share with you so you may enjoy viewing it and if you wish - have the opportunity to bid on it.What medium? Easy choice for me - my art love affair is with watercolor. I'm delighted to be working on them, always striving for that elusive "aha!" with my brush strokes.

How big? Well, we all must face reality, or suffer unpleasant consequences, and my facts are: At 80 years young, I am rather ripe on the vine. And I want to maximize the time left for me. Ward and I have a great life together and taking care of ourselves and each other consumes a lot of time. And I have many commitments for larger commissions. It's very important for me to exercise my ability by trying out new ideas and fresh approaches in painting to maintain and improve my skill . So it's obvious - my little originals have to be small. How small? I've checked out lots of web sites - mostly "daily painters" - the majority produce a new painting several times a week - some more, some less. It seems to me that many manage to be quite consistent with the sizes of their offerings. After working on almost a dozen small paintings, I am forced to confess I cannot comfortably conform to painting within a very specific area, so my paintings will vary in size.

These small paintings are creations of mine, and thus seem like my "babies", and each will be interesting, special and unique in its own way. And since they are my ideas composed with paint and paper, I can easily toss them if they are not up to par.I hear you thinking -" Don't waste that expensive paper!" No danger of that. I'm a depression baby. I'll use the rejects to practice on and reserve the pristine paper for new watercolors.I promise to try my darndest to do good quality work. As a bonus for you, each painting will be hinged to a simple archival mat - custom cut by Ward. Details on size and matting will be given with each original watercolor offered on our blog. You will then need to take your treasure to a professional framer, or let your resident carpenter complete the job.So here it is- the first one to meet my standards - Its name is Brushing with a Pine Tree The painting area is 4.75" across and 5.5" high. The almost white archival mat is 1.5" wide, so the overall matted size is 7.75" wide by 8.5" tall. Your painting will be carefully packaged including a foam core backing and a signed certificate of authenticity. It is offered for auction on ebay, with a beginning price of $50.00. Click here to review this ebay listing and bid!

If a painting doesn't sell on EBay, it will be framed and for sale in our Painter and Poet Gallery. Later we may list originals on our web site.

Visit our web site www.painterandpoet.com to look through our wide variety of prints, note cards and books. We nake it easy for you to purchase with a check or money order - or using our shopping cart and pay/pal or other credit cards. Free shipping within the 48 states - email us for charges outside this area. Phone orders welcome. Ask for Esther at 574-842-8888. Email us at: info@painterandpoet.com